Paragon Bank has appointed James Harding as business development manager (BDM) to provide support to brokers in Scotland through its buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage sales team. He replaces Holly Morrison, who has Paragon’s BDM covering Scotland before being appointed as a national account manager. Harding joined Paragon in 2022 and during that time has worked in the retentions, underwriting and completions teams, where he gained his experience across the mortgage lifecycle. He holds a business degree from The University of Manchester and completed a business development internship for a start-up educational technology company, alongside his studies.

Pepper Money has announced price reduction on its five-year fixed rates and has reintroduced its mid-fee products. The specialist lender has reduced rates by 0.10% on its five-year fixed rates across its Pepper 48, 24, 18, 12 and six product categories. Pepper has also reintroduced its popular mid-fee products for residential two- and five-year terms, featuring a £795 fee and free valuation. In addition, the lender has introduced a range of three-year fixed products to its DMP range. This means that Pepper is now introducing 96 new options for customers and has reduced rates on a further 106 products.

Steve Johnson has been appointed as the new area director at Broker Conveyancing, covering the East Anglia and Essex regions. He joins the firm with over 20 years’ experience in business development roles, primarily within the mortgage lending sector, mainly across the East of England. He joins Broker Conveyancing from Aldermore Bank, where he served as relationship manager, and has also held senior BDM roles at the Bank of Ireland, Bluestone, the Skipton and Norwich & Peterborough Building Societies. As part of the role, he will report to managing director Keith Young, and will be working across his region to support existing users of the firm as well as helping drive new advisers to the portal.

---